VZCZCXRO0088
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #1803/01 1980446
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 170446Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2766
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 1505
RUEHZS/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 001803 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM HUMANR ETRD EINV ECON VM
SUBJECT:  VIETNAM'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY APPROVES TEN NEW LAWS, 
CONTINUES INDIRECT CRITICISM OF PARTY'S ROLE IN SOCIETY 
 
REF: A) Hanoi 1802; B) Hanoi 677; C) Hanoi 835 
 
HANOI 00001803  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  During an unusually long summer session convened 
May 16-June 29 to approve the new government selected by the 
Communist Party of Vietnam's (CPV) 10th Party Congress (Ref A), 
Vietnam's National Assembly (NA) also debated ten laws and approved 
three resolutions.  These new laws include a Law on Lawyers, a Law 
on Legal Assistance, a Law on Information and Technology, a revised 
Aviation Law and a Securities Law.  Assembly deputies also debated 
the GVN's controversial draft revisions of laws on residence, on 
associations and on the Labor Code.  End Summary. 
 
Newly Passed Laws - A Quick Look 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In addition to the controversy over corruption and the 
final approval of the new Government, the NA also debated ten new 
laws during this session, including a Law on Lawyers, a Law on Legal 
Assistance, a Law on Information and Technology, a revised Aviation 
Law, a Securities Law, a Cinema Law, a Law on Real Estate Trading, a 
Law on Sea Dikes, a Law on Standardization and a Law on HIV-AIDS 
Prevention and Control.  One of the resolutions passed by the 
assembly defined for which types of national construction the GVN 
must request NA approval.  Assembly deputies also debated the GVN's 
controversial draft revisions of laws on residence, associations and 
the Labor Code. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The new Law on Lawyers, which replaces an existing National 
Assembly Standing Committee ordinance, allows foreign lawyers to 
provide consultative services on foreign and international laws and 
other legal services relating to foreign and international laws. 
The law stipulates, however, that foreign lawyers who wish to 
provide legal consultancies on Vietnamese law must hold a Vietnamese 
college law degree and meet all the requirements necessary for 
Vietnamese lawyers to provide legal services. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The new Law on Legal Assistance provides that poor people, 
people who are credited with helping the revolutionary cause, lonely 
elderly people with disabilities, homeless children and ethnic 
minority people are eligible for free legal assistance.  The law 
also stipulates that lawyers must provide free legal assistance to 
those who are eligible. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The revised Law on Information Technology reportedly 
addresses some practices undermining information technology 
intellectual property rights (IPR) in Vietnam.  The final text of 
the law has not been released; however, according to a Ministry of 
Posts and Telematics (MPT) official, only Article 70 of the law 
touches upon this issue.  The article provides that protection for 
IPR in the IT field falls under the International Property law, but 
adds two exceptions.  Citizens may make a "temporary copy of a 
licensed work" in cases where there is technical need for a certain 
period.  Users are also entitled to make copies of licensed software 
without asking for permission of the rightholder or paying royalty 
for the purpose of making backups. (Note: Current regulations on 
information technology are scattered in different legal documents 
and generally refer to technological application but do not address 
such issues as information safety, information security and 
protection of users.  According to contacts, the new law aims to 
create a "legal corridor" for IT applications and development of the 
information industry.  The IT law regulates applications, dispute 
settlements and sanctions applicable violations in the IT sector. 
The MPT will be responsible for taking the lead to coordinate with 
other relevant ministries in the state management of information 
technology. End Note.) 
 
¶6. (SBU) The revised Civil Aviation Law stipulates that the GVN will 
"create favorable conditions" for Vietnamese carriers who are 
obligated to provide air services "to remote and poor mountainous 
areas."  During the session, some delegates proposed that foreign 
carriers should be allowed to operate within Vietnam's domestic 
market as well, but these amendments were voted down.  (Note: 
Vietnam, like other signatories to the Chicago Convention, reserves 
domestic markets only to domestic carriers.  The deputies who 
proposed that foreign carriers should be allowed to operate within 
Vietnam's domestic markets were reportedly not aware of the Chicago 
Convention.  The NA voted their amendments down after the NA 
discussed the implications of the convention.  End Note.) 
 
¶7. (SBU) The new draft Securities Law states that the State 
Securities Commission (SSC) should remain under the control of the 
Ministry of Finance (MOF) due to Vietnam's limited experience with 
stock markets.  This proposal was hotly debated by NA deputies. 
Deputy Chairman Tao Huu Phung of the NA's Economic and Budgetary 
Committee and the Vietnam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI) 
reportedly defended the idea because the MOF is a powerful ministry 
and "makes policies on stock market development, State Owned 
Enterprise (SOE) reform, tax policy and accounting and auditing 
 
HANOI 00001803  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
regulations."  He also noted that since the SSC was put under MOF in 
2004, Vietnam's stock market has taken off.  Phung reportedly 
concluded that SSC should not be moved at present for fear that it 
would unsettle the market. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Other delegates argued that since the MOF already controls 
the Tax Department, Customs Department and the Government's Pricing 
Committee, it will become even more of a "super-ministry" if SSC 
oversight is retained.  Some deputies noted that the recent 
corruption scandals relating to ODA management indicate that the MOF 
does not have a sufficient capability to monitor closely all areas 
falling under their management.  Others observed that the MOF is the 
issuing agency of Government bonds, while bond issuance is the 
purview of the SSC.  If the SSC is kept under MOF, then the ministry 
will be both "the player and the referee" on the issuance of 
Government debt, a legal contradiction that should be avoided.  One 
NA deputy also questioned the accuracy of the Government proposal, 
which mentioned that in most countries, the stock market is governed 
by a commission whose chairman is the minister of finance.  The 
deputy cited that in five countries of the G-8, the securities 
commission is an independent agency.  Phung reportedly replied that 
after several more years of stable development, an appropriate model 
could be created. 
 
Less State Intervention in Associations Expected 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶9. (SBU) The NA discussion of the GVN's draft Law on Associations 
(REF C) focused on whether the law should cover all associations, 
including the so-called "legacy associations" which form part of the 
CPV's apparatus to control Vietnam's political system.  At present 
these organizations operate under separate state laws and include 
the Vietnam Fatherland Front (the GVN's umbrella watchdog for 
popular organizations), the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor 
(the Trade Union), the Vietnam Peasants' Association (Farmers 
Association), the Ho Chi Minh Youth Union, the Vietnam War Veterans' 
Association and the Vietnam Women's Union.  Religious organizations 
are also excluded from the scope of the draft and already operate 
under the 2005 Ordinance on Religion.  Nguyen Chi Dzung, a senior 
Office of the National Assembly (ONA) staffer and former 
Editor-in-Chief of the ONA-affiliated Legislative Journal, noted 
that many deputies think the law on associations should regulate all 
associations, including the CPV itself and all associations 
operating under the party's auspices. 
 
¶10. (SBU) For his part, Vice Chairman of the ONA Nguyen Sy Dzung 
told Pol Assistant that there have been more and more voices 
questioning the scope of "the Party's decisions and intervention in 
Vietnam's political life, and a law on the Party would put the Party 
under the law and subject to law, not beyond."  (Note:  Vietnam's 
Constitution vaguely provides that "the CPV exercise its leadership 
over the State and the whole society."  In an interview with local 
newspapers preceding the Party Congress, Vu Mao, Chairman of the 
National Assembly Foreign Relations Committee and a member of the 
previous CPV Central Committee, said he supported the idea of having 
a law on the Party.  This interview ignited an unprecedented debate 
in the media in the lead-up to the Congress and the NA post-Congress 
session. REF A.  End Note.) 
 
¶11. (SBU) Many deputies also criticized the GVN's proposed 
procedures for establishing associations as overly complicated. 
Most deputies also expressed their belief that the State should not 
intervene too much in associations' activities, and that the current 
system of line-ministries managing associations should be abolished. 
 Some deputies proposed that only the Ministry of Home Affairs 
(MOHA) should manage associations at the central level, while 
provincial people's committees should manage associations formed at 
the local level.  GVN drafters from MOHA succeeded in retaining 
language outlining line-ministry direct supervision of associations 
in their sector, despite the fact that in a preliminary vote the 
NASC voted the provision down, according to reliable sources. 
 
Delegates Support Right to Choose Residence 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) The GVN's draft law on residence also attracted 
considerable attention from delegates over a proposal to retain the 
current requirement for citizens to maintain household registration 
books.  Drafters from the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) stressed 
that the books are vital in the fight against crime, particularly in 
big cities.  NA deputies, however, noted that many officials use 
household registration books as a pretext to deny services to, or to 
hamper the legitimate business of, citizens who are not registered 
in their jurisdiction, though many Vietnamese do not reside in the 
jurisdiction in which they are officially registered as residents. 
 
 
¶13. (SBU) Delegate Le Thi Nga from Thanh Hoa Province cited a report 
 
HANOI 00001803  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
from the MPS that there are at least 380 separate regulations 
relating to residential registration, underlining that "such 
regulation limits citizenship rights."  Nga proposed folding 
personal information currently maintained in household registration 
books and identity cards into a new form of national identity cards 
which would be granted right after a person is born.  (Note: 
Current regulations provide that only those who are officially 
registered as residents in a province or city are eligible for 
certain benefits and allowances available in that province or city, 
and are allowed to formally register their property with local 
authorities.  In-migrants are required to register their temporary 
residence and their travel from place of temporary residence with 
local authorities.  End Note.) 
 
¶14. (SBU) Most delegates supported Nga's viewpoints.  Some argued, 
however, that if registration books are to be retained, they must be 
used only in tracking residency, and any regulation that limits 
other rights of citizens should be forbidden.  Delegate Nguyen Dinh 
Loc, a former Minister of Justice, even questioned the scope of the 
draft law.  According to him, only two out of 47 articles of the 
draft law relate to the right to residency, while the remaining 45 
articles cover various aspects of State management of residency by 
common citizens. "Is this a law on citizens' right to residency or a 
law on State management over citizens' residence?" he demanded. 
Some delegates observed that provisions in the draft law are just 
too strict.  For example, one provision requires that citizens above 
the age of 14 who travel from their place of residence for three 
days need to register their travel plans with their place of 
residency and with officials in the place to which they intend to 
travel.  (Note:  Prominent religious and dissident figures, 
including UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and political dissident 
Nguyen Khac Toan, have frequently complained that this requirement 
has been used by the GVN to prevent them from traveling freely 
within Vietnam, as permitted by law.  End Note.) 
 
Labor Code Reforms 
------------------ 
 
¶15. (SBU) The NA also discussed a proposed amendment to Chapter 14 
of the Labor Code relating to worker strikes.  This amendment was 
submitted in the wake of hundreds of nationwide strikes at foreign 
and domestically owned firms earlier in 2006 related to wages and 
conditions.  The amendment aims to streamline the procedures for 
calling legal strikes, as the current process for doing so is 
criticized as notoriously complex. Almost none of the 1000-odd 
strikes in the last decade have proceeded legally.  During the 
debate, several deputies objected to the amendment as the revised 
Code should avoid limiting the right to strike and that striking is 
often "workers' last weapon" to protect their legitimate rights and 
benefits.  The deputies also proposed that the code not divide 
collective labor disputes into two types -- rights and interests -- 
as currently defined, because it is difficult to clearly distinguish 
between rights and interests.  (Note:  Recent and strong criticism 
of the amendment in newspapers and on radio has asserted that the 
amendment fails to simplify the procedure.  GVN officials have also 
complained to Econoff privately that the amendment attempts to 
create an administrative solution to a larger labor problem 
involving Vietnam's lack of independent and capable unions and 
collective bargaining mechanisms amid the country's transition to a 
market economy.  End Note.) 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶16. (SBU) This latest NA session underscores that Vietnamese 
legislators are increasingly outspoken and willing to take on 
sensitive issues related to the Party and State authority.  However, 
policy expertise remains a premium within the National Assembly (Ref 
B), as evidenced by the confusion surrounding the ability of foreign 
airlines to fly domestically.  Until the legislature is able to 
develop homegrown policy expertise, it will continue to be beholden 
to Vietnam's line ministries and unable to play a preeminent role in 
Vietnam's lawmaking process. 
 
MARINE